Questions from the local business community on economic development, downtown support, and local priorities. Here are my complete answers to all fifteen questions.
What are the three biggest challenges facing Centre Wellington businesses, and what would you do as Mayor to address them?
Three challenges stand out for me.
First, workforce housing: when nurses, tradespeople, and hospitality staff can't afford to live here, employers can't recruit or retain them, the single biggest threat to our local economy.
Second, an unpredictable planning process that leaves businesses waiting months for site plan and permit decisions with no certainty of outcome.
Third, water and wastewater capacity constraints that stall approved development and business expansion.
As Mayor, I'll launch a Worker Housing Partnership bringing employers, the County, and non-profit housing providers together to designate attainable rental sites near employment corridors. I'll tie growth approvals to confirmed infrastructure capacity and pursue the $2.3 billion available through Bill 17's water and housing infrastructure funds. And I'll implement a Community Planning Permit System, so rules are set upfront. Development gets faster, predictable approvals, not case-by-case negotiation. We get peace of mind.
How would you ensure commercial, industrial and employment growth keeps pace with residential growth?
Commercial, industrial and employment growth won't keep pace on its own, it must be planned for with the same discipline as residential growth. My Community Planning Permit System will apply to employment lands as well as housing, giving businesses the same certainty residents get. Defined rules upfront instead of a rezoning fight for every expansion.
I'll reform our development charge structure to stop penalizing the infrastructure-efficient development we actually want and pursue provincial infrastructure funding aggressively so water and wastewater capacity, which are the real constraint on new employment land coming, isn't the bottleneck it is today. And I will not let residential approvals outrun employment land servicing: if we're growing housing supply, we need to be growing the tax base and job base at the same rate, not asking businesses to catch up later. Let's make the Business Park a priority!
How would you balance municipal services and infrastructure needs with the impact of property tax increases on businesses and residents?
This isn't a choice between services and affordability, it's about honest, disciplined budgeting. Ontario law now requires a fully funded 10-year asset management plan; underfunding it doesn't lower costs, it defers them onto a bigger bill later, paid by residents and businesses alike.
My commitment is a tax increase capped in the 3–5% range, tied to real, documented cost increases, not politics. I'll commission an independent review of whether our development charges actually cover what new growth costs, so the tax burden of servicing new development doesn't land on existing homeowners and businesses. And I'll publish plain-language budgets, with year-over-year comparisons, so residents and business owners can see exactly where every dollar goes and hold council accountable for spending discipline, not just revenue growth.
What would you do to make Township permits, planning approvals, inspections and other processes faster and easier to navigate?
Predictability is the fix, not just speed. My Community Planning Permit System replaces the current rezoning and site plan process with rules set upfront for defined growth areas, a business knows what's permitted before it applies, which eliminates the uncertainty that costs more time and money than the process itself.
Alongside that, I'll direct staff to publish clear service-level standards and timelines for permits, inspections, and planning approvals, with public reporting on whether those targets are being met. The same accountability standard I'm applying to housing. Streamlined, predictable planning frameworks for Fergus and Elora businesses are already a named commitment in my platform. Businesses shouldn't need a planning consultant just to find out what they're allowed to build.
What infrastructure investments should Centre Wellington prioritize to support business and future growth?
Water and wastewater capacity is the top priority, it's the foundational constraint on nearly everything else. No approved development, business expansion, or new employment land comes online without it, and I'll make confirmed servicing capacity a condition of new growth approval rather than an afterthought.
Second is road and bridge capacity connecting Fergus and Elora, including the Beatty Line and Wellington Road 29 river crossings already under study in the Transportation Master Plan, both would ease congestion and improve access to employment areas and the new hospital site. Third, I'll pursue every dollar of the $2.3 billion available through Bill 17's infrastructure funds to offset these costs locally rather than loading them entirely onto development charges or the tax base.
What role should the Township play in increasing housing options so local employers can attract and retain workers? (124 words)
Housing affordability is a labour-market issue, not just a social one. I've said directly that it's the single biggest threat to our local economy. The Township's role is to use the planning tools already in provincial law: permitting fourplexes as-of-right, scaling up additional residential units with pre-approved designs, and using development charge incentives to get purpose-built rental built, since our own 2025 Housing Needs Assessment shows almost none has been built this entire council term.
I'll also convene a Worker Housing Partnership bringing employers directly to the table with the County and non-profit housing providers to identify and designate attainable rental sites near employment corridors — so the conversation about housing supply includes the businesses that need workers housed locally, not just planners.
How would you keep Downtown Fergus and Downtown Elora vibrant, accessible and successful as Centre Wellington grows?
Downtown vibrancy depends on protecting what makes Fergus and Elora distinct while making it easier, not harder, to do business there. My Community Planning Permit System will set clear design and character standards for these areas upfront, so heritage streetscapes are protected without every storefront renovation becoming a variance application.
I'm committed to predictable planning frameworks and streamlined permits specifically for downtown businesses, and to completing active transportation investments, the St. David Street reconstruction, expanded trails and safe crossings, that bring residents and visitors downtown on foot and by bike, not just by car through congested streets. I'll also manage short-term rental growth through the licensing bylaw so downtown housing stock supports the residents and workers who keep these downtowns busy year-round, not just tourism.
How would you ensure businesses are consulted before Council makes decisions that significantly affect them?
The same accountability standard I'm applying to residents applies to business consultation: specific, structured, and before decisions are made, not after. My Community Planning Permit System is explicitly built through a public engagement process to co-design the framework before it's finalized, for employment lands, that means businesses at the table from the start, not responding to a draft.
I've committed to two town halls per year in each ward as genuine Q&A sessions, and I'll extend that same practice to a standing business/Chamber consultation on any policy, development charges, zoning, licensing that materially affects the business community, before it reaches a council vote. Businesses deserve the same "no surprises" standard I've promised residents on major capital decisions like the Multi-Use Recreation Facility.
How would you work with the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce and local business community on economic development and municipal policy?
The Chamber has been a genuine part of my community involvement for years, I was honoured to receive Citizen of the Year recognition from the Chamber, and that relationship matters to me personally, not just politically. As Mayor, I'll formalize that relationship: a standing consultation process with the Chamber on development charges, permitting standards, and any policy affecting local business, ahead of council votes, not after.
I'll also bring Chamber input directly into the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy my platform commits to, one that explicitly connects housing supply to workforce availability, since that's the issue I hear from employers most consistently. Good economic development policy in this township should be built with the business community, not delivered to it.
What is one measurable improvement you would like the business community to see by the end of your term?
A measurable published permit and planning-approval timeline, specifically, a reduction in average site plan and permit turnaround time, reported publicly on the same quarterly basis I've committed to for housing. That number is one that businesses can hold me to directly, and it's a fair test of whether the Community Planning Permit System is delivering what I'm promising: predictable, faster approvals instead of a case-by-case negotiation every time.
I'd rather be judged against one clear, specific metric I've stated in advance than a general sense of "things got easier." If that number hasn't measurably improved by the end of my term, I haven't delivered on this commitment, and residents and business owners alike will have the receipts to hold me to it.
As Centre Wellington prepares for provincially mandated growth, how should the Township address increasing cross-river traffic for local residents and Highway 6 traffic? With only four vehicle crossings and three recently replaced as two-lane bridges, should another vehicle crossing be considered?
Growth planning has to be honest about where it will show up on our roads. Highway 6 is provincial jurisdiction, but the County's Transportation Master Plan has already identified the real answer to congestion at our river crossings: two new bridges under study, at Beatty Line and Wellington Road 29, specifically to improve north-south connectivity and ease pressure on our existing crossings while providing faster access to the new hospital site.
I support advancing those environmental assessments now rather than waiting, because provincially mandated growth will make this worse, not better, if we defer it again. I won't promise a crossing I can't cost or site without that engineering work, but I will commit to getting the assessments done in my first term so council is deciding with real information, not more delay.
How will you protect productive farmland while accommodating future residential, commercial and employment growth?
I will never force a farm family to give up land, and I won't stand in the way of one that chooses to sell after generations of working it. That decision belongs to them, not the municipality! What the Township controls is where non-farm growth goes instead.
My Community Planning Permit System requires a full Agricultural Impact Assessment and demonstrated need before any Official Plan Amendment can convert prime agricultural land, replacing today's case-by-case rezoning fights with rules set upfront. I'll also pursue federal and provincial land preservation grants, so farmland protection doesn't rely solely on regulation, and support permanent conservation covenants where a farm family voluntarily chooses that path. Growth belongs in our settlement boundaries, planned and serviced, not spread across productive farmland by default.
What is your position on farm stores, agritourism and value-added processing? How can the municipality better support these businesses?
Farm stores, agritourism, and value-added processing are exactly the kind of diversification Ontario's own planning framework is designed to support, and I support them. These uses keep farms economically viable without converting productive land to non-agricultural use, which is the outcome my whole platform is built around protecting.
The Township's role is to make on-farm diversified uses straightforward to approve rather than treated as exceptions requiring individual rezoning each time. I'll direct staff to build clear, pre-defined criteria for these uses into the Community Planning Permit System's rural framework, so a farm family adding a market stand, agritourism venue, or small processing operation knows the rules upfront instead of facing the same uncertainty I'm committed to eliminating for other businesses. Supporting these operations supports the farmland protection goal directly.
Would you support adopting Ontario's optional commercial and industrial property tax subclasses for eligible on-farm value-added businesses? Why or why not?
Yes, I would support adopting the optional small-scale on-farm business subclasses. They give qualifying value-added processing operations up to a 75% reduction on the commercial or industrial tax rate that would otherwise apply on the first $100,000 of assessed value, recognizing that a farm running a small processing operation isn't the same as a standalone industrial business and shouldn't be taxed like one.
This is exactly the kind of tool that supports farm diversification without costing the Township meaningfully. It applies only to qualifying on-farm activity under a defined assessment cap, and adoption requires the industrial subclass be in place before the commercial subclass becomes available. It's a low-cost, high-value way to keep farms economically viable and support the value-added processing I want to see more of here.
Why should Centre Wellington's business community support you for Mayor?
Because I've already shown I do what I say I'll do. I championed the Township's Asset Management Plan during my last term, the financial discipline that protects your tax dollars and this community's infrastructure for the next 25 years. I raised housing affordability and rental supply as priorities back in 2022, before any consultant confirmed it; the Township's own 2025 data proved me right.
I'm not promising things a mayor can't deliver. I'm promising specific, measurable, public commitments: a Community Planning Permit System that gives businesses predictable rules, infrastructure capacity tied to growth approvals, and a standing consultation process with the Chamber before decisions are made. Centre Wellington's business community needs a mayor who acts on deferred decisions, not one who defers them again. That's the mayor I've already been, and the one I'll be again.